- Following its tie-up with Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, Datang Telecom announced on April 21 that the company has entered into a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Ericsson, the China Business News reported on April 22. Under the terms of MoU, they will jointly develop state-of-art mobile communications technologies based on TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) and/or TD-LTE (TD-Long Term Evolution), a TDD (Time Division Duplex) version of LTE. Also according to the MoU, Ericsson will consolidate Datang Telecom's TD-SCDMA radio access network equipment into its own-developed 3G mobile system. In January 2008, Ericsson teamed up with Datang Telecom to jointly set up a R&D center in Beijing for the R&D of LTE/TDD technology. The new strategic alliance between Datang Telecom and Ericsson are expected to consolidate their partnership and give their relationship a new perspective.

 

With an aim to make their forays into the Chinese market, the vast majority of overseas companies have either formed a JV or strategic alliance with a Chinese company. In order to snatch a significant share in the fourth round of TD-SCDMA network equipment procurement tender floated by China Mobile, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell have separately partnered with Datang Telecom; Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei jointly set up a 51-49 JV named TD Tech for the R&D of TD-SCDMA technologies and TD-SCDMA related products, according again to the China Business News.

 

- The fourth round of the TD-SCDMA network equipment procurement tender floated by China Mobile has officially begun, the Sohu IT News reported on April 20. In a bidding evaluation in China, the business tender normally accounts for 50% of the total evaluation points, the technical tender accounts for around 30%, and the evaluation on previous construction plans, along with the brand-image and industry contribution of individual bidders, account for the remaining 20%. The tender currently under evaluation is the technical tender and the business tender normally will begin soon after the completion of the technical tender evaluation. To date, the TD-SCDMA network coverage has included 238 major cities nationwide and the network coverage is expected to include up to 330 major cities upon the completion of the fourth-round of construction, according again to the Sohu IT News reported on April 20.